DISCLAIMER: Open-water swimming is inherently dangerous. Open-water swimmers risk drowning, hypothermia, hyperthermia, heart attacks, panic attacks, cramping, jelly fish stings, fish bites, boat or jet-ski collisions, collisions with floating or submerged objects (including other swimmers), and other calamities that can be injurious, disabling or fatal! The "West Neck Pod" is an informal association of open-water swimmers who swim "outside the lines" with no lifeguard protection, it has no formal membership, organizational structure or legal identity, and its participants, including the author of this blog, make no representations and assume no liability with respect to its group open-water swims. All swimmers who participate in West Neck Pod group open-water swims do so at their own risk. Be careful out there!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Attendance has been sparse at weekend morning swims since the unofficial (and disappointing) start of the open-water swimming season on Memorial Day Weekend (see previous blogpost!). An unusually cool Spring has kept both air and water temperatures low, keeping many erstwhile open water swimmers pool-bound, and it seems that the weather has not yet caught up with the calendar. Last weekend the water temperature finally edged up to 67-68 degrees, but after a week of chilly, rainy weather the water temperature yesterday had dropped to 63, and by this morning it had dropped even further, to 60-61 degrees! But with just one more week of Spring swimming left, and the Third Annual "West Neck Swim" just a week away, West Neck Beach was thronged with returning swimmers this morning. Most -- even those without wetsuits -- made their way all the way to the Sailboat, undeterred by the still-ripping incoming full-moon tide and the uneven chop of a brisk northwesterly wind. It looks like the 2014 open-water swimming season has finally begun in earnest! Even weekday morning swims may resume shortly, with a first open water swim tentatively scheduled for Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. (check Facebook for updates and other info about ad hoc swims).

Next Saturday, June 21st, marks the Summer Solstice and the official beginning of Summer 2014! It's also
your last weekend chance to try out the venue and "test the waters" if you're
registered or planning to register for this year's WEST NECK SWIM,
which will take place Sunday, June 22nd, at West Neck
Beach. The deadline to register for the 1-mile, 2-mile, or new 5K event is
Tuesday, June 17th, so time is running out! For registration and other info
about the West Neck Swim, follow this link: http://www.westneckswim.com/.

Things You Think About While Open-Water Swimming

"November always seemed to me the Norway of the year." -- Emily Dickinson"90% of [swimming] is half mental." -- Yogi Berra"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm so LUCKY!

It's not that the tide is "against us," it's that we choose to swim against the tide....

What was that??

Why don't people put their names in their wetsuits? (ROB TODD -- I'M STILL TALKING TO YOU!!)

When an eel bites your thigh as you go swimming by,That's a moray.....